Eventually, even people like me who LOVE to shop, feel the need to purge things. I spent an hour going through shoes and clothes in my closet this weekend, and ended up with 2 large garbage bags of things to donate to the local thrift store. Outfits that are out of style, shirts that shrunk in the dryer, things other people gave to me that I never wore - it all went. It made a big dent in my closet, and freed up space for new stuff!

Jim’s been making comments that he wants to buy a new tool for around the house - this time, a pressure washer is what he’s got his eye on. We’ve used one before to clean off my mom’s pool deck, and it’s just a handy thing to have for the house. You can clean your stucco or siding, the sidewalks and driveways, or your porch or lanai. This site has pressure washer models that are electric - no need to worry about a gas motor that needs maintenance, oil, and gas. Hmm…if I could only use the thing in the house to get out of mopping the floors…

I love my Dyson, but I hate using it upstairs in the kids rooms. I dislike using any vacuum in those rooms actually. The kids bedrooms are smaller of course, and have lots of furniture and toys and such in them, and there isn’t a lot of open carpet, which means when I vacuum, I’m trying desperately to avoid whacking the kids furniture with the Dyson. I don’t want to hurt my Dyson, but I REALLY don’t want to damage the furniture!

I just noticed the tumbleweeds of dog hair piling up in the corners of my home office. The whole house could use a good vacuuming! We have a Dyson Animal, and I love it. I had a hard time convincing my husband to even look at the Dyson vacuums when he heard how much they cost, but now he agrees that it’s worth every penny. It’s amazing how much dust and dirt and hair gets sucked up, and you don’t need to use bags. (I hate changing vacuum bags!)

If you need a little help convincing your better half how awesome the Dyson is, show him (or her) the website for Best Vacuum. They’re Dyson specialists and authorized dealers for other brands, like Miele, or shop their site for SEBO and Electrolux vacs.

Before Christmas, I bought one of those stand up plastic storage boxes for gift wrap. I figured it would be a better option than having the loose rolls rolling around in my closet, right? I also bought several rolls of Christmas gift wrap on clearance. Why pay full price in a few months when I could get it after Christmas for 75% off? Wouldn’t you know it though, the rolls I bought don’t fit in the gift wrap box. They’re supersized, and you can’t put the lid on the box with the rolls inside. Not exactly the need and tidy look I was going for…

Note to self: Buy smaller rolls of wrap next time.

We have a leather loveseat and a leather sofa in our family room. We wanted leather instead of fabric for those two areas because we learned that fabric simply doesn’t hold up with 3 kids and 2 dogs. Kids spill juice, dogs smell up the cloth…whereas the leather looks as good as the day we got it, if not better. I do have a hard time finding the right cleaning products for it in the stores. Most retailers sell a container of leather wipes which aren’t really sufficient for doing a good job. And once I store the package for a few weeks, the rest of the wipes tend to dry out. The cleaning products found here are commercial grade. In addition to leather cleaners, you’ll find wood and leather repair kits. I can certainly use that - our recliner has a small nick in the leather from where it constantly rubbed a wall in our last house. It irks me every time I see it! A professional leather cleaner and conditioner will probably be a lot better for our furniture in the long run, compared to these cheesy wipes I’ve been using.